ETTSI Travel Networks / Deceptive and false advertising

This company requires a $50 "activation fee" to process a free stay at a resort as long as you attend one of their timeshare presentations. The contract clearly states that this activation fee will be refunded as long as you attend the presentation. They ask for 120 days following the completion of your truip in which to process the refund.

We took our trip in early April, attending the presetation, validated that attendance with the time share presenters, and we thought all was well. Now, it has been 6 months since then, and there has been NO refund. I have been calling this company daily for the past 2 weeks with the representative's voice mail saying they will get back to you in 24 hours. IT shouldn't be this hard just to fulfill a basic contract like this and it reeks of deceptive business practices. I suspect that they hope most folks will simply forget about the activation fee refund and they get to pocket it. And for those who actually request their money back, they are going to make damn sure that it is going to be as difficult and drawn out as possible.
The Office of Consumer Protection is going to hear from me next. ETTSI are freakin' rip off artists!!!

Comments

This might be one of the worse companies I have ever dealt with. I have followed all of their instructions for my $100 refundable deposit. I have talked with several of the employees in the Refund Department and documented everything. It has been over 90 days and I still haven't received my refund. The employees that I have talked to give great lip services. My phone calls are not returned. My faxes have gone through but nobody knows about them. I will be contacting other agencies for filing complaints and I will forward it to anyone else who may need it.

we are going through the same hassle with our refund. we faxed over all the required info well over 90 days ago. i've called julia @ext 100 3x & twice left a message with no response. i think we to will be filing a complaint with an agency.

I've paid one "activation fee" already; next step is they want another one from me (even thoguht it clearly staes that CA residents don't need to pay it). I'm in CA. I called to get some answers about this; I've encountered rude women on the phone, not answering my questions. Thank you for the warnings above; Becasue of this fishiness, I won't pursue this "free vacation" any further; I'm out!

I paid extra fees to stay on a weekend in vegas and to book last minute which I was fine with bc the hotels are over $200 a night there anyway. I was told it would be at a regular hotel like circus circus. they wouldnt tell us where we would be booked and booked us 5 miles off the strip. The kicker was that it cost us more in fees than if we booked the same hotel ourselves. They were going to let me postpone the trip but after reading all the comments I am not sure what to do. Im going to the place that gave me the voucher and going to complain.

I hate to admit that we've also been "taken" by this company. After paying the "fully refundable deposit" and dealing with our very rude and snippy "customer service" person, we are opting out. ETTSI is a joke!

I think it is time to name the companies that took our time and looked blankly at us when it was time to give something for our participation in the timeshare presentation. Ours was Blue Green Corporation. I will be going back to them for satisfaction. After all they are as much a part of this as EETSI. Stay away from ETTSI and Blue Green timeshares.

This is a huge huge scam! If you give them the $50.00 deposit they will only ask for more money at every step of the process to your "free" vacation. I am embarrassed to admit I paid all the additional "handling fees" and ended up in a very low budget roach infested dump on a back road that was worth a fraction of what I had paid in fees. Then they tell you they expect you to sit through a timeshare tour to get you "refundable" deposit back only after you are into them for a nice chunk of change!. Please, please save yourself the frustration and run as fast as you can from this scam company. Oh and by the way, don't expect the state of Florida to do anything about shutting this fraudulent business down. They are not going to help you at all. I tried by submitting a complaint to the Dept. of Consumer Services and got nothing from them but even more anguish and frustration. Apparently the State of Florida cares more about protecting it's tourism business, regardless of how unethical their practices, than they care about protecting unsuspecting consumers. We consumers are on our own and sites like this are our only recourse.

One of ETTSI's main purpose is to fill seats at time share presentations. As far as I can see they do that well. If you want a travel agent, pay one.
ETTSI's terms and conditions regarding cancellations, rescheduling, and participating in the presentation are clearly spelled out in the initial brochure, the verification form, the contract and the details of participation form. If you want to make one phone call and have everything taken care of... pay a travel agent.
ETTSI scheduled us to tour Kings Creek Plantation in Williamsburg, VA. As luck would have it the tour was scheduled the day hurricane Sandy struck the Mid-Atlantic states. We called Kings Creek, were handled personally by the woman who answered the phone. Things were pretty confused since many people left as soon as hurricane warnings started. Finally we were told that Kings Creek was closing and we should reschedule. I told them about the rescheduling penalty and they told us that we would be all right.
We were rescheduled by ETTSI well under the 60 days required and took the tour at Kings Creek. The salesman was delightful (a Ford quality control supervisor who took the job to pay for his quilt collecting hobby. The cottage we stayed at for three nights was great and we plan to return next winter as paying guests. (Those brand new buildings were not yet 'shared' so they are happy to fill them for $79.00 a night; pretty nice for a townhouse type apartment.

I wrote ETTSI immediately after we fulfilled the terms of the contract. ETTSI needs the time share company to first notify them that the time share obligation has been satisfied. Their information states that a 45 day wait is usual for you to get back your $50.00 refundable deposit. After 45 days I faxed the same letter. We got our check within a few days.

Every transaction with ETTSI was handled in a professional manner, including the rescheduling which a special person was assigned to. Rescheduling was handled by email and the necessary reservation form which was emailed and mailed to us, and returned by mail. No mention was made of why we rescheduled the day before our presentation, or why we asked to be rescheduled sooner than allowed. Of course I did make that clear in my correspondence. I also took notes of everyone I talked to, when and what was said. It wasn't necessary; they handled our special case with no problem.

Their website sends you in circles with nothing accomplished. I just wish we could get our money back and forget the whole thing. We have had ETTSI for several years and have not used it once!!! If ever there is a class action lawsuit I want in...

ETTSI Is HORRIBLE!
My husband and I did many time share tours and received countless weeks and two day gateways. Never did we have the rude staff, runaround and lies which we received from this company. ETTSI tells you to send in two dates for travel, first choice and second choice, well we faxed them four times with dates and every time we were told our dates were unavailable. However, we could pay a fee to stay those dates or participate in another tour where they try to get you to buy a timeshare. Not free! Not easy! Not friendly or polite! This company should be shut down! The Avery's from Maine.

ETTSI is horrible and has unprofessional employees!!!
My cousin and I received 2 of these certificates while on vacation and we paid the money to activate. Later we were informed that we could not use our certificates at the same time which does not make sense. Then while talking to their customer service people in regards to the matter, they became very rude and nasty. I then wrote a letter to cancel my certicate, so we shall see how long it takes for the both of us to get our money back, which will be very interesting.

Same crap for me as well... these people should all burn in hell!!! They give crappy customer service, very pushy and unprofessional... then if something happens...which it did for me, my wife has ALS so I wanted to cancel the trip. Oh, yea you can do that, but NO REFUND of the 100 dollars I sent them... They are a total rip-off company!

ETTSI has really poor customer service personnel. I spoke with Marissa who said she was a supervisor. I spoke to another employee Samantha the other woman I did not get her name. The all of them were very mean, rude as if they hated their job. I even told the first woman I spoke to that perhaps she should look for another job. I had worked with them before but this time was horrid. The person/persons there have such attitudes and unpleasant to talk to who could trust them with $50.00 or more of your money to believe they would supply you with anything other than a miserable time. I believe that there should be a way to complain that is why I am making this note now but I would like to speak to someone higher in the company. Yet since you can't get past the first barrier of horrible contact to talk to someone else it is just a slippery slope from the first conversation to working anything together on. I really hope that these reviews are being noticed by the company because they have no reason to put hatred and dread on you for trying to use their service. Susan Sheppard